Maroon Voices

Jesus Came Back to See the Links of the Day

2008-03-23T17:29:00.007-05:00

This may sound like heresy, but in terms of using Jesus's crucifixion for ulterior motives, it's not the worst transgression of the day.

-David Ross Greenzo Schwimmer is seeking to shed his Friends reputation (but not its paycheck), including auditioning for the Coen Brothers and directing the new film Run Fatboy Run. Schwimmer, one of the more unlikely TV stars to have founded a major Chicago theater company, completely redeemed himself to me with his guest spot on 30 Rock, but the early critical reception to Fatboy is something a tad below a mild chuckle. Though in Schwimmer's defense, it's in all likelihood not the worst movie directed by a former TV star of the past 12 months. (Los Angeles Times)

-Pat Graham at the Chicago Reader's movie blog gives possibly the best defense of Funny Games I've read so far, and makes a dead-on comparison between the mostly critically maligned film and Best Picture winner No Country For Old Men ("serial murderer, deaf to every human appeal for mercy, goes about his business with implacable dispatch"). My opinions on the film are on the Tynan's Anger blog, where I call it the most important film so far of 2008. Sorry, Meet the Spartans.

-Blackface is back, in the form of heavily applied makeup to olive-skinned white people. It's all coming true! The main criticism of the new Blackface, originating from the Tribune's overbearing TV mother Maureen Ryan, is that the use of racial makeup in non-race related roles masks (zing!) the problem of the black performers being underrepresented. I would be more likely to agree if I was not completely floored by Angelina Jolie in A Mighty Heart (this year's biggest Oscar snub in my mind). My main complaint about the article is that Neely Tucker dismisses Bamboozled as a box office flop, ignoring that it's become a seminal film in academic studies of the media perception of race (you owe it to yourself to read W.J.T Mitchell's take on the film). (Los Angeles Times)

-For all you future starving artist who have recently graduated or about to graduate (raises hand), odds are you will be very jealous of Nathan Jackson, who went straight from graduating the Julliard to getting a play produced at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. That's great, because I'm going to try to freelance, maybe. (Variety)

-Tired of Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll, Courtney Love has decided to become a member of the Village Green Preservation Society. Settling down in the small British town of Sunningdale, Berkshire, the town may soon start to resemble Sandford, Gloucestershire in Hot Fuzz. (they even have sudden high-spec real estate boom, which, fittingly for Courtney Love's new residence, was the motive for the false murder conspiracy in Hot Fuzz). (Daily Mail)

Celebrating Easter the only way I know how-Media Saturation of Bunnies

2008-03-23T12:02:00.007-05:00

Jews, as Denis Leary says, are a bottle of whiskey from being Irish Catholic (same guilt, same bad food, though I maintain hell hath no fury like the Jewish mother). But since I don't celebrate Easter, I will instead show you as many cultural remnants of bunnies I can think of.

Photo-A rather large rabbit, used to feed North Korea, apparently (though seriously, if the North Koreans dropped killer rabbits on us instead of nuclear bombs, I'd be more likely to submit to Kim Jong-Il).

Theater-From the sick minds of University of Chicago we get the Kurt Weill-esque "Don't Be The Bunny," from the Tony-award winning musical Urinetown:

Film: I was going to with Harvey, a Jimmy Stewart classic, but since that movie never actually shows you the bunny, I ultimately had to settle for Donnie Darko (for the record, no I don't like this movie, and if you do, you're most likely in the 11th grade).

Music: Echo and the Bunnymen, and their hit song "Killing Moon." Like Donnie Darko, the Bunnymen became icons to emo teenagers. Don't know what it is about bunnies and emo kids.

Television: Mr. Floppy from the ranty '90s television show Unhappily Ever After. The show itself was a poor man's Married...with Children, and the notion of a right-wing talking bunny is typical of bad '90s TV, but this clip is worth it just to hear the voice of Bobcat Goldthwait. I could seriously listen to that man's voice all day.

Late-Night Links for those who prefer their Madness in in literature rather than March

2008-03-20T23:20:00.003-05:00

Tina Fey jabbed Jon Stewart lightly. Blasphemy! She's a witch! Burn her! (TV Squad)

Combining two of my obsessions, Andy Warhol and Judaism (the guilt culture, not the religion), the Jewish Museum in New York is having an exhibit on Warhol's work on Jews. There seems to be a divide between the cultural significance of the figures involved. Of course, those who know abotu Warhol find that pointing out the distinction between Einstein and the Marx Brothers is useless (and combining Freud and the Marx Brothers is surpringly useful) (NY Observer).

The Tribeca Film Festival is casting a light on the rising prominence of nerd-hobby documentaries. While I am appreciative of any feature on film trends inspired by The King of Kong, I must note the the absense of Helvetica is a GLARING omission (The Reelist)

DMX apparently has no idea who Barack Obama is, and can't believe a guy named Barack Obama would be a serious presidential candidate. Y'all Obama supporters gonna make him act the fool. (XXL)

Finally, while I know it's not that cool to make fun of the dead, this scene from Purgatory with Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni is pretty much the funniest thing I've seen all week (Fairfield Weekly)

The Raconteurs cut out the middle man

2008-03-19T12:46:00.004-05:00

With no one seemingly want to release an album the old-fashioned way anymore, the Raconteurs, headed by mainstream rock's biggest maverick in Jack White, have decided to take their turn with a new business model to release their new album Consolers of the Lonely. Idolator reports on the Raconteurs press release, which states the band's already-in-place plan to cut out the industry standard promotional period, sending the album to be ready for a simultaneous vinyl, CD, and digital release immediately upon completion. The album was completed in the first week of March, and will be available to everyone for the first time on March 25. No bonus tracks will be released anywhere, with the hopes that people "buy the album as a whole" instead of breaking it up into individual tracks on iTunes.

While the stated purpose is to help break down the emphasis on first week sales by eliminating the buildup, Maura Johnston at Idolator wonders if the move is an attempt to dismantle the authority of music critics. Most of the nervous derives from the line "the Raconteurs would rather this release not be defined by it's first weeks sales, pre-release promotion, or by someone defining it FOR YOU before you get to hear it" in the press release. Despite the misleading suggestion of the article's title, David Bennum at The Guardian speculates that this is more a plea to have the album heard on vinyl, and avoid the poor sound quality associated with leaks.

I'm lessed inclined to agree with either argument, and I think it's more the product of Jack White trying to shake up the music industry in general. Jack White hinted at trying to do this with the press release of Icky Thump noting that they wanted "to release the album as soon as corporately possible." Presumably, they stuck to convention to make nice with new label Warner Brothers, and without the precedent set by Radiohead. Jack White's self-declared hatred of all things celebrity also leads me to believe he's more likely referring to marketing and PR types than critics, who he's generally had good relationships with.

I also find it mildly annoying that after all the media fellating Radiohead received in October, the Raconteurs' release is treated with more suspicion, despite both releases being unavailable to the press before going public. Hopefully, the Raconteurs can back this up with a quality album, as I was somewhat disappointed with the overall album last time around.

Links to cure your finals weeks blues

2008-03-18T19:45:00.006-05:00

-A less-than-flattering recording between Chris Rock and a private investigator regarding a rape allegation has surfaced in an FBI investigation of said P.I. It's likely that this was not an actual rape, but it's still not good for Rock's reputation. In the immortal words of Alec Baldwin: "Patriot Act! Patriot Act! PATRIOT ACT!!!" (Huffington Post)

-The San Diego Union-Tribune turned an apology for a comment about Natalie Portman's cleavage in a syndicated review of The Other Boleyn Girl into a call for more female film critics. Gary Sussman at the EW Popwatch Blog has the proper response: more film critics, period. If the Union-Tribune had it own film cricket instead of publishing a syndicated review, it was less likely to offend it's more liberal audience. It would also lead to more female film critics. Maybe the Union-Tribune should put it's money where it's mouth is and hire a female critic of their own. (San Diego Union Tribune/Entertainment Weekly PopWatch blog)

-So apparently while it's not cool for Doc Martens to make graven images of Kurt Cobain in vain, it's okay for Converse to do so. A new line of shoes will feature lyrics from Nirvana songs on sneakers, all with approval from Kurt Cobain's one-woman estate, Courtney Love. This poses an interesting dilemma: while Converse has been deemed cool again by hipsters, is Kurt Cobain still cool by hipster standards? If so, they probably have to argue that Bleach is Nirvana's best album to cover their bases. (Gawker)

-Finally, Tyler Hinman, four-time defending crossword puzzle champion and a man who I can proudly say I've shared a pitcher of beer with at the Falcon, has a video up where he solves a crossword puzzle in record time. Billy Mitchell is not impressed. Ironically, despite being the national crossword puzzle champion and living in Chicago, Tyler did not go to the U of C. (TylerHinman.com)

Anthony Minghella dies, makes me feel like a douche

2008-03-18T13:19:00.005-05:00

So after the Oscars I wrote an article on the change in the Oscars culture which, in the process, basically slammed The English Patient. Today my foot was properly inserted into my mouth, when, less than a month later, Anthony Minghella director died suddenly. This gave me an application for my required daily guilt trip, but also led me to realize that I actually feel a lot more positively about Minghella than I realize.

While I may not be the biggest fan of Minghella's most famous movie, I do realize the impact it had on the film industry. It almost single-handedly revitalized the concept of the blockbuster for the over-25 crowd, and let to many similar if under-seen films such as Master and Commander and Minghella's own Cold Mountain (a film that also helped recognize the cinematic potential of Jack White). It also helped put Miramax on the map.

The Talented Mr. Ripley is also a criminally underrated film. Too many saw it as a follow up to The English Patient while not enough saw it as one of the darker, most psychologicaly complex films of the 1990's. It also helped show that Matt Damon and Cate Blanchett could display much more versatility than the breakthroughs implied, and, along with Magnolia, helped revitalize the career of Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

While he hasn't made much of significance since Cold Mountain, it's still a shame to see him go so young, especially when he had so many upcoming projects that could have revitalized his career.

St. Pattie's Day Links to Read while still conscious (or not)

2008-03-17T16:43:00.006-05:00

-There's a lot of uncertainty regarding how MSG Entertainment is going to handle trying to revive the Chicago Theatre. If it's like MSG's other ventures, it will exorbitantly overpay acts 5 years past their prime and then fire any high ranking female who won't sleep with the Theater's president. I'm Knicks fan, and hence I kind of have a beef with the theater's owners. (Chicago Tribune)

-While we're tackling Chicago, the U of C's biggest gangsta was on the Colbert Report last week. Sudhir Venkatesh, a former sociology grad student and featured player in Freakonomics, is the first Colbet report guest I've seen that actually left Colbert speechless. It was even more impressive that he did it with methods other than the trademark U of C awkwardness. (Freakonomics Blog)

-The Guardian posted a list of the worst lyrical filler ever. Since it's a British publication, it's an Anglo-heavy list. I hereby propose the uniquely American (and Maroon office classic) lyrical throwaway "Chinese food makes me sick."

-Rounding out the arbitrary list portion of the link list, The A.V. Club has a list of crappy benefit songs other than "We Are the World." My guess is that they were tempted to include "Yes We Can," but held back lest they face the wrath of fiery ~~spambots~~ Obama supporters.

-Stephen Sondheim and Frank Rich talked about Rogers and Hammerstein at UCLA. Can you say super-panel? (Variety)

Finally, to leave you with a taste of the surreal for your St. Patrick's Day Drinking, I give you the downfall of human civilization.

There's nothing even Charlton Heston can do for us now. Start hording supplies.

Digg is retarded

2008-03-17T11:13:00.002-05:00

I was going to save the Tracy Morgan SNL video for the links of the day feature, but I have unwittingly started a controversy on the comments page on digg that reflects pretty accurately how idiotic Internet culture can be. Right now, my comment is the top-ranked comment for the feature. The entirety of my comment was the punchline "Bitch is the new black, but black is the new president, bitch," which I posted because I thought it was the most relevant line from the routine that was not mentioned in the description. Yet, I get lambasted for being a spoiler, which leads me to get "burried." This leads to a brain lesion-inducing debate on what should be defined as a spoiler, and what should be the purpose of digg's comments (I may be the only non-virgin involved in this debate).

This is the side of new media that causes MSM to lambaste it so viciously. Any defense of Web 2.0 has to reconcile itself with comments sections apparently written by Russian sweatshop workers paid $3 a day to subvert American intelligence. I think they let the monkeys on typewriters leave comments on YouTube.

Oops

2008-03-17T10:19:00.003-05:00

A couple of times when I was editor of Voices, we'd get an unassigned piece from one of our writers about an organization he was affiliated with. In each case we caught the PR piece posing as journalism before it was published. Nice to know that the Maroon's editing standards are, at least in some ways, superior to that of the New York Times:

A question-and-answer interview on March 2 in Arts & Leisure with the director and a cast member of the Classic Stage Company's production of "The Seagull" was conducted by Rosemarie Tichler, a freelance writer who is on the board of directors of Classic Stage. She disclosed this fact in a note to the assigning editor, but it was overlooked in the editing process. Had The Times noticed her affiliation, it would have sought another interviewer for the article.

The fine folks at Media Bistro break down all the steps that were necessary for this slip to occur:

1. A stringer pitched an article on a theatre SHE WAS INVOLVED WITH to the New York Times.

2. Said stringer voluntarily disclosed her affiliation to the New York Times.

3. Her editor did not notice.

4. Her editor did not notice that the first link when you Google her name goes straight to a Tisch bio that plainly states she "is on the board of directors of the Classic Stage Company and is a Tony Nominator."

5. The New York Times published the article nonetheless.

That certainly stings for the Time's art desk, but I understand how these things can get overlooked. Still, though, ouch.

Sunday Links of the Day:

2008-03-16T22:55:00.001-05:00

So I'm going to try to set a new goal of adding notable links from the intertubes at the end of each day. Of course, I picked finals week to start this, but I hope this will create more blog respone in the future. Here are the links that interested me the most today:

Eddie Izzard strives to be more Bill Murray than Monty Python. His other choice is "or death." (New York Times)

The rise of alternative fuels will be forcing movie theaters to raise the price of popcorn. I'd be willing to pay the extra 15 cents just to keep that disgusting movie theater butter at least 10 feet away from my popcorn at all times. (L.A. Times)

Stefan Ruzowitzky, the director of The Counterfeiters, has become something of a folk hero in his native Austria after winning the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. Hopefully this works out better than their last folk hero. (The Times U.K.)

Lou Reed, apparently, doesn't like new media, much to the dismay of Gang of Four bassist an excellent blogger Dave Allen. It's hard to choose sides between one punk legend and another, but I take solace in the fact that the one who is younger than my parents (slightly) sees things more my way. (Pampel Moose)

Awesome interview with The Reader's Jonathan Rosenbaum

2008-03-02T11:38:00.003-06:00

In terms of appointing anyone the Dean of Chicago film criticism, the only person who can even remotely compete with Roger Ebert is Jonathan Rosenbaum, critic for the Chicago Reader. While Ebert's throat condition prevents him from speaking (though his writing is as sharp as ever), Rosenbaum, recently retired, can still give a hell of an interview. Not only did I find myself constantly agreeing with him (his analysis of There Will Be Blood is dead on in my mind), but he comes across as an exceptionally intelligent man with bigger ideas than just reviewing movies, elegantly and powerfully analyzing himself, the current film culture and the current political climate. If you care anything at all about the state of American film criticism, this interview is a must-see. The interviewer also gives me hope that there are other exceedingly awkward interviewers out there.

I Drink You Milkshake, the Food Network's latest hit

2008-02-25T23:28:00.003-06:00

SNL returned for its first post-writers strike episode on Saturday, and they were back with a vengeance. In addition to premiering it's Obama spoof (the first for years to come, hopefully?) and host Tina Fey's flat out endorsement of Hillary, the came out with this dead-on spoof of this year's Oscar fare:

While I think the "There Will Be blank" construction is already getting played out (I'd give it another couple of months), I don't think I'll ever get tired of the "I drink your milkshake" line. Truthfully, I've never been that much of a fan of Will Forte, but his Daniel Day-Lewis voice is near perfect. Fred Armisen's Anton Chigurth is disappointing, but I burst out laughing with the "I'm sorry, are you speaking English?" line with Juno. Maybe this is a sign the show will suck a little less now.

There Will Be Justice: Why the Oscars are better now than they've been for 30 years

2008-02-24T23:49:00.004-06:00

This year's Oscars was a satisfaction 11 years in the making. You may remember that back in 1997, the two main contenders were The English Patient and Fargo. The former was a literary, epic, tragic love story amid political chaos that is now best remembered as almost laughably pretentious and cheesy. Fargo, on the other hand, was an unprecedented, challenging work, one with an unflinchingly bleak view on human nature with a heinous villain who seemed to embody evil for no reasons other than his own personal mantra. If this sounds familiar, it should. If the current climate was the same as 1997, Atonement would have taken home the Best Picture Oscar, and we'd all be begrudging it 10 years from now. As it stands, the real Best Picture won, as No Country For Old Men, arguably even better than Fargo, got the Coen brothers the Best Picture award they've deserved for over a decade. I can think of nothing but positives in terms of what this means for our current cinema.

In my mind, the '70s were the golden age for Oscar fairness, and that's simply because the competition was so good. There's really no way you can lose when choosing between The Godfather Part II and Chinatown, or Rocky, Network and Taxi Driver. In sum, the better the overall quality of films of a given year, the less likely it is that someone will get shafted by default. It's no coincidence, then, that 2007 was one of the better years for movies in quite some time (I'd argue it's the best since 1994, maybe even longer). Not only was Atonement slightly better than The English Patient, but Juno, There Will Be Blood and Michael Clayton were all better than Jerry Maguire, Secrets & Lies and Shine. More choice means more democracy, and that's why the Coen brothers took home more hardware this time around.

More importantly for the future of the Oscars, however, I feel that the the last 5 years have been trending towards the fairer (Crash being the notable exception), and that's because of the changes in the industry. Geeks have taken over the awards coverage, as sensitive Hollywood types face an unprecedently empowered wrath of the population if they make the wrong choice. In the 90s, the Academy could get away with giving awards to Dances with Wolves and Titanic simply because no one could really stop them from doing so. In the early part of the decade, the overall quality of films were so bad that there wasn't really much to be shafted in the first place. But now, with a lot more scrutiny from empowered film geeks then ever before, the criticism of the Oscars is a lot more widespread and prominent than in the last decade. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King was not a good sign since it was one of the few recent movies to unite film geeks and Oscar voters alike. The real sign of change was a year later, when a grandiose but flawed movie in The Aviator lost to a smaller but nearly flawless film in Million Dollar Baby.

The rise of independent films in prominence has also tipped the scale, as easily the most inspiring moment of this year's Oscars was the two separate acceptance speeches for Once's Best Song win, a feat that simply wouldn't be possible 10 years ago. But if one was superstitious, you may look to the lifting of a curse of Babe Ruth-like proportions. The flaws of the last 30 years of Oscars have been symbolically linked to the year 1980, when the flaccid Ordinary People beat out what Hollywood now believes to be the fourth greatest film of all-time, Raging Bull. The Scorsese curse was finally lifted last year when The Departed, in my mind Scorsese's best film since Goodfellas (another film that got shafted), won gold. Hopefully, this means that all the problems started by the Ordinary People win will go away too.

Voices Blog Exlusive: An interview with Jared Phillips, guitarist of Times New Viking

2008-02-15T08:53:00.004-06:00

(photo courtesy of Matador Records)

So much for setting off a doomsday device on indie rock. After my interview with Jared Phillips, I was immediately reminded of Chuck Klosterman's essay in Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs about the utter detachment of the music press from actual musicians themselves. Jared was quick to shoot down my suggestions of an indie rock revolution, but not without throwing in a few jabs at the current establishment, which still gives me hope for this band. Since the Maroon is off for ~~suicide prevention~~ college break day, this interview is a Voices blog exclusive. No podcast this time: trust me, you don't want to hear my awkward stumblings.

Ethan Stanislawski: You guys sound almost defiantly straight out of 1991 or 1987. What kind of effect did you think that would have on an indie music scene that has kinda strayed from that?

Jared Phillips: I don’t really know. I never really took that into account other than, y’know, I don’t listen to a whole lot of stuff that’s new. I’d actually rather it sound like 1983. I mean, there’s not much out that’s both poppy and kinda gnarly-sounding at the same time anymore, but yeah, we don’t really care.

ES: What’s the transition been like going to Matador, and with having your music stay the same production value even with the switch.

JP: Well, our music sounded pretty gnarly before, so, it’s not going to hurt us. Basically it’s stuff like now, what we’re doing. I got to talk to people all the time. If I want to tell the label something I have to tell 5 people. Y’know, shit like that. More emails, basically. I don’t see any more money, it’s just more emails. Other than that, it’s not really a tough transition.

ES: Have you noticed any more of attention with the sort of upgrade in labels?

JP: Ah yeah, obviously because more people will buy the record based on the fact that it’s Matador, but then again people will buy [former TNV label] Siltbreeze records just because they’re on Siltbreeze. So it’s not really an upgrade, it’s just that one label has a hell of a lot more money.than the other one, and Pitchfork will actually review the record. Apparently Pitchfork is some kinda huge thing. I never really read Pitchfork, and then people were coming up to me at home and telling me “wow you guys are on Pitchfork!”, and I’m like, “yeah, well, it’s just like all those other shitty sites, right?” It’s all the same thing to me, I don’t know. I guess more people pay attention to us, which is cool. I mean, I was aware of that to begin with, when we jumped ship and went with this other label to see what it’s like.

ES: Even with the switch to Matador, you kept the same home-recording production values. Were you tempted to get rid of that, or was that essential to what you guys were doing?

JP: Well, when we started out recording, we kind of wanted to sound like Live at the Witch Trials, the first Fall album, a little more of a clean, sharp sound. And once we started fooling around with a 4-track recorders, we thought we could get a lot more cool sounds because we had such a minimal setup…When we started out playing and practicing I had this shitty old Xerox machine upstairs that weighed like 200 pounds. So we’d practice, then listen to the practice, then we’d go upstairs and make 3 copies of the cassettes and make these little album. So after awhile, it just became the way we did things. But it might change. You can’t make records that sound the same forever. Nobody wants to hear that. I mean, it’s like a band that makes 15 records all pretty modern-sounding, and you just say “why don’t you just make a fucking record that is not overproduced.” But everyone’s going to be telling you that you need to do things this way and that way, so fuck it, who cares. I mean, I might like to do something a little different for the next one, so we’ll see what happens. I don’t want it to be a crutch, or something that we have to do.

ES: Your press release spends a lot of time talking about having a Sex Pistols effect, and your Myspace features aliases like harmish kilgour and brix e. smith. How much do you think of the band as a retro thing and how much do you want it to have more of a new effect?

JP: Well, when we all met, the whole thing was we were into collage art and stuff like that, so everything came from kinda somewhere, y’know? As much as I like stuff that sorta comes out of nowhere, nothing really comes out of nowhere. We’re pretty conscious of the things that we reference. When we started out we were writing songs where we’d say “why don’t we put this Nirvana chord here, for the hell of it.” We don’t want to sound like Nirvana, but we were all aware of referencing things that had one meaning a changing them around, y’know just appropriating shit. So I don’t know, it’s not meant to sound retro. I can’t stand retro stuff. If people want retro stuff there’s a whole bunch of shitty punk bands and a whole bunch of shitty garage bands, and a whole bunch of shitty psychedelic bands. But everything we do is just to make it not particularly one of those. If I used a whole lot more reverb on my guitars it would sound more psychedelic, so I don’t do that. There’s a reason for all that. I hope they don’t think it’s retro, because they’ll miss all the other references.

ES: You talked about how you don’t listen to much modern music. How much of your sound is trying to start shit up, or be rebellious.

JP: Well, I don’t listen to much of what Pitchfork reviews, that’s all I meant by that. I mean, I can’t speak for the other two band members, but personally that’s not anything I really wanted to do. I mean, all along we were outsiders to the scene of the indie world…but yeah, I don’t think that was the intent. But if people take it like that, I guess that makes us look cooler, doesn’t it? So I don’t mind. I don’t know, when we first started playing, we’d show up to the show, and we’d play, and we would be the odd people out. It’d be some noise show, and we’d be the only band with drums and has songs. We’d be the only band there who plays the same thing twice…we didn’t know if we were pissing people off, but they seemed to like it. Or it’d be the opposite situation. We’d be playing with a bunch of bar bands, and we just figured they would hate us because we weren’t playing typical bar band music, but then people still liked it. I’m amazed that we’re even on this big label, and all the good reviews we’ve gotten, it’s just ridiculous. Even if we were trying to be a pimple on the indie rock scene, I guess we’re not doing a really good job at it. So somebody will tell me about something that was said in a blog or a review, and it makes me happy. It still seems like people either love it or hate it.

Times New Viking will be playing along with Super Furry Animals and Jeffrey Lewis this Saturday at the Metro.

A return to form: Martin McDonagh Podcast

2008-02-12T20:44:00.004-06:00

The lack of posting of late has been due to a variety of factors, mostly including me trying to do silly things like graduate, as well as getting distracted with other blogs. I sincerely apologize for such foolishness. But, in honor of the Maroon website's snazzy new redesign, I will be posting once again on the Voices blog, and I will be starting with a bang, a podcast of my interview with Martin McDonagh, which was published on Friday. Among the relics not in the article is McDonagh's take on working with Colin Farrell, his mixed cultural identity as a Londoner and an Irishman (you'll hear his accent is more towards the former), and him shooting down my comparison to Conor MacPherson.

God I'm awkward. Enjoy!

Link Love

2008-01-01T07:46:00.000-06:00

Upon looking at Voices blog's referrers, I was thrilled to discover that one of my recent posts was noted in Slate's "Today's Blogs" feature. Granted, it was on December 26, and so far it's netted the blog a grand total of 1 visit, but it's still an accolade I'm somewhat proud of. Slate joins the ranks of Defamer and U.S. News & World Report who have linked the Voices blog. Though I still have ways to go to catch up to Sports report and Editors Blog contributor Tim Murphy (a.k.a Murph Dog), who actually wrote an article for Slate this summer (an article I agree with completely, thus proving Yankees and Red Sox fans can get along).

Happy 2008!

2008-01-01T07:12:00.001-06:00

In the immortal words of Jim Osterberg:
"Last year I was 21,
Didn't have a lot of fun.
Now I'm going to be 22,
Oh my and a boo-hoo."

Kind of hard to believe Iggy was my age when he was attracting the revile of just about everyone except Lester Bangs, but it puts my life into perspective. I will be graduating this upcoming year, and with any luck, entering the journalism establishment. Hence, one of my New Years Resolutions is to be a more professional and responsible blogger (read: ~~proofreid~~ proofread more, and not make blog posts that could limit my potential jobs). Towards this goal, I have deleted some of my previous posts on this blog that, though often quite juicy, were the product of a college-age wannabe journalist with a bone to pick and less of a real journalist, blogger or otherwise. To those that say bloggers aren't real journalists, wait for a column I plan on writing for this winter's Maroon.

The one exception to this rule is my post on Marty Peretz at The New Republic, the reasons being a) the fact that I am the son of Michael Stanislawski problably precludes me from working at the New Republic so long as Peretz is the publisher (though maybe it's okay if I'm not the son of Michael Stanislavski), b) that post actually had an effect, as Peretz took down the TNR post in question, and c) The New Republic doesn't exactly sound like the best place to work. Witness this internship listing sent out to aspiring U of C journalists:

REPORTER-RESEARCHER

The New Republic is looking for reporter-researchers for the 2008-2009 internship program. Job duties include reporting, researching, and fact-checking for TNR and TNR Online stories; formatting articles and blog posts for the Web; and performing occasional clerical tasks. Reporter-researchers work closely with writers and editors, and they have an open invitation to pitch magazine or Web articles. Most reporter-researchers finish their program with a substantial portfolio of clips and have gone on to work almost everywhere in journalism--including TNR itself. Political journalism experience is preferred (but not imperative); fluency with LexisNexis and other search techniques, a willingness to put in long nights fact-checking, and a sense of humor are mandatory. The yearlong job will begin in late summer 2008 and will pay $280 per week (plus substantial overtime, adding up to $320-$350 per week on average) with health care. Please e-mail the following items to Britt Peterson at job [at] tnr [dot] com:

1. A cover letter.
2. A one-page résumé.
3. A 750-word critique of the politics section of a recent issue of the magazine.
4. Two clips (if possible, one opinion and one news).

No phone calls and no snail mail (undue phone calling is especially unwelcome). We don’t have time to let you all know we received your applications, so please don’t expect confirmation. The deadline is February 15, 2008, but do not submit applications before January 1.

But enough of this, I'm breaking my resolution already.

While were on the subject of Lester Bangs, here's my favorite quote by him, admittedly obtained from Wikipedia, which was once even was my "About Me" on Facebook:

"...I'll admit in front that I have a special affinity for things that don't quite fit into any given demarcated category, partly because I'm one of those perennial misfits myself by choice as well as fate or whatever. By profession, I am categorized as a rock critic. I'll accept that, especially since the whole notion that someone has a 'career' instead of just doing whatever you feel like doing at any given time has always amused me when it didn't make me wanna vomit. O.K., I'm a rock critic. I also write and record music. I write poetry, fiction, straight journalism, unstraight journalism, beatnik drivel, mortifying love letters, death threats to white jazz critics signed 'The Mau Maus of East Harlem,' and once a year my own obituary (latest entry: 'He was promising...'). The point is that I have no idea what kind of a writer I am, except that I do know that I'm good and lots of people read whatever it is I do, and I like it that way."

This being New Years Day seems like as good a time as ever to write my own obituary, but I don't think I could do it any better than "He was promising..." Though if I die in the next year, that is so gonna be my epitaph.

Idolator and I have similar taste in blue-balled anthems

2007-12-31T16:50:00.001-06:00

While my 2007 best of the year movie list will appear in the first Maroon of the quarter, I will not be submitting a music list this year. I have admittedly weird tastes, yes, but this year, my weird taste has been validated more in the press than in past years. For instance, my favorite song of the year, hands down, was "No Pussy Blues" by Grinderman, Nick Cave's latest project. This deadpan, 100% irony-free song is about just what is sounds like, one of the oldest rock standards. Yet, Grinderman's fantastic track displays Cave's maturity both as a musician and human being, and "No Pussy Blues displays the humor, bleakness, and catharsis that could only come with a perspective like Cave's on a subject normally meant for teenagers. I was pleasantly surprised when Pitchfork ranked it as high as #11, but now, Jess Harvall at Idolator, as always, one-ups her main rival by ranking "No Pussy Blues" #1B in Idolator's Top 40 list of awesomeness, a precursor to their critic-wide choice of albums and tracks. Not only that, but Jess explains her omission of P-fork's own #1 choice, LCD Soundsystem's "All My Friends". I couldn't have said it better myself, so here's her words:

LCD Soundsystem's "All My Friends," undoubtedly a great record, has found its way to the top of many year-end best-of lists thanks to (among other sentiments) its generally uplifting affirmation that you still might be able to find solace for the sucky parts of your life in platonic companionship well after those intense friendships of your teenage years. And who wouldn't find it easier to be seduced by a song with a smidge of hope for relationships getting richer with age? James Murphy's occasional notes of thirtysomething anxiousness about isolation are pure Hallmark compared to Cave and his song that seems to say friends don't mean shit when you're twenty years on from that and still scrounging desperately for one more lay, no better off than you were when you were 15, just as fixated on ass, and probably more likely to get it. So what's left to do but crack wise with a wink and all wit your tired ol' butt can muster after yet another flub and set it to the grimiest groove of the last 12 months? "No Pussy Blues" ain't earnest and it's pretty ugly, but if you value ribaldry and release more than most things, this is your tune.

The selection here once again confirm's Idolator's status as a critic and fan favorite. I imagine after the debacle with the Village Voice's Pazz and Jop poll last year, Idolator's poll will only get stronger.

Jon Spencer and Weird Al? I'm totally blogging that

2007-12-30T01:14:00.001-06:00

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion is increasingly becoming one of my favorite bands of the '90s, and the discovery of this video may have sealed the deal. This is the music video for the single "Wail" off their hit 1996 album Now I Got Worry (and my favorite JSBX song). It's directed by none other than Weird Al Yankovic. Is this awesome? (y/n).

Enjoy!

Will Smith proves that Hannah Arendt and TMZ don't mix

2007-12-26T13:14:00.001-06:00

As I have argued before, the fact that celebrities get blasted for making offensive comments so often is more of a product of our time than of those celebrities themselves. How fitting is it that Will Smith, arguably the least offensive rapper in the history of hip-hop, is getting lambasted for making offensive comments?

The exact quote is provided courtesy of CNN:

In a story published Saturday in the Daily Record, Smith was quoted saying: "Even Hitler didn't wake up going, 'let me do the most evil thing I can do today.' I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was 'good.' "
The quote was preceded by the writer's observation: "Remarkably, Will believes everyone is basically good."
Over the weekend, dozens of celebrity gossip Web sites posted articles about the comment, many saying that Smith believed that Hitler was a "good" person.
"It is an awful and disgusting lie," Smith said in a statement Monday provided by his publicist. "It speaks to the dangerous power of an ignorant person with a pen. I am incensed and infuriated to have to respond to such ludicrous misinterpretation."
"Adolf Hitler was a vile, heinous vicious killer responsible for one of the greatest acts of evil committed on this planet," read the statement.

Trained U of C scholars will identify Will Smith's argument here as the same as Hannah Arendt's famous banality of evil argument: that there was nothing inherently evil about Nazis or anything particular about Nazism, but by performing seemingly banal and earnest goals, unprecedented evil can be accomplished. It was a very controversial argument, to be sure, but I don't think gossip columnists were going for the Life of the Mind when they came up with headlines such as "Will Smith -- Hitler, Schmitler; He Wasn't That Bad" or "Smith: Hitler Was a Good Person."

I actually find is personally offensive that the Jewish Defense League would release a statement saying that Will Smith "spits on the memory of every person murdered by the Nazis. His disgusting words stick a knife in the backs of every veteran who fought (and sometimes died) to save the world from the intentions of Adolf Hitler" without even reading the article. That sounds less like "defending" Jews and more like a witch hunt for anti-Semitism. At HuffPo, Earl Ofari Hutchinson noted that being African-American, Smith may be facing consequences of Louis Farrakhan's anti-Semitic and Hitler-sympathizing remarks 20 years ago. But seriously, of all the 80's rappers to attack because of Farrakhan, you're picking the Fresh Prince? I guess they're done going after rappers who said "Farrakhan's a prophet and I think you ought to listen to/ What he can say to you, what you ought to do."

This generation gets its Tennessee Williams, and his name is Tracy Letts

2007-12-19T22:47:00.001-06:00

If you have any interest in theater whatsoever, step over your own mother to see August: Osage County on Broadway through March. In fact, after seeing the play, I may encourage you to go out of your way to step on your mother, then go see August: Osage County. The prospect of a 3-and-a-half-hour long legit black comedy about a crumbling American family may seem daunting, and it is, but then, so is King Lear.

I chose King Lear as an example intentionally. Both plays involve 3 daughters fighting over their father's territory, with a series of alternately complex and conniving roleplayers. August: Osage County just also happens to have a matriarch rivaled only by Amanda Wingate and Mary Tyrone in all of American drama, and a daughter as tragically flawed and betwixt in her responsibilities as a daughter, sister, and wife, as Antigone (throw in mother to the equation). Did I mention it's also the funniest play on Broadway in years?

You may remember that I had a certain exchange with Tracy Letts over the crossover between theater and hockey, but now I'm just gleefully excited to have communicated with the writer of the next great American-with-a-capital-A dramas. You know, in the Death of a Salesmen, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Fences kinda way? Yeah, you can add August: Osage County to that list.

I'm even more giddy that when I said to myself only Proof can compare in terms of American plays of the last decade, I realized I've had an association with the playwrights of both of those plays (though my connection to David Auburn is much stronger). Even though the audience was old, loud, and obnoxious before the show, by the first intermission they were buzzing like no other Broadway play I've been to since, well, Proof.

Last year, when Wicked was a surprise success in Chicago, I worried that it would New York-ize Chicago theater, and weaken the grassroots model that had defined Chicago theater. Now, I'm immensely excited about the prospect that August: Osage County may Chicago-ize New York theater. In fact, I haven't been this excited about New York theater in years. If you combine the creativity and diversity of Chicago theater with the budget and professionalism of New York theater, we may be on the cusp of a new Golden Age for American theater. Wouldn't that be something?

Jews take over British Christmas Charts: No word if the Israel Lobby is involved

2007-12-17T17:00:00.002-06:00

In one of the weirdest stories I've encountered in awhile, apparently the British Christmas pop charts is being taking over by a Jewess. 17-year-old Lauren Rose, with her Britney-ized version of "Hava Nagila" is the odds-on favorite to top the British Christmas charts, according to the liberal Israel daily Haaretz (notice it's not called the "holidays chart" in England). In the music video, Rose clearly gets farpitzt:

Clearly this will soon be played at bat mitzvah near you, complete with grinding 13 year olds. If you think that sounds a bit ridiculous, clearly you have not been to a bat mitzvah lately.

Apparently, Replicants Do Age After All

2007-12-16T09:32:00.001-06:00

Sometimes, between my almost maniacal fandom of The Minutemen and Hüsker Dü, along with Blade Runner and Repo Man being on the short list for Ethan's favorite movie consideration, I forget just how long ago the '80s were. I was four years old when they ended, and while I'm glad that Mötley Crüe and padded shoulders are no longer in fashion, some of my loves from this era do die hard.

For instance, I can now thank my former employer for ruining one of my favorite film ~~fantasies~~ memories of the 80's: Sean Young. She was hauntingly beautiful, both in her appearance and performance, as Rachael in Blade Runner. And then TMZ had to perform the old before/after trick:

Suddenly, my Hanukkah present lost a little of my interest.

Art Mirrors Life: Tracy Flick clashes with Beanie Campbell

2007-12-16T08:13:00.002-06:00

It seems there's a feud involving the romantic comedy Four Christmases, starring Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn. Fitting with David Denby's analysis, it involves, a slovenly, slacker-type male and a fun-hating female who needs everything to be in order. The difference, in this case, is that those descriptions match the actors, and not the characters they play. According to the Daily News' Gatecrasher column, the feud between the stars of Four Christmases, a movie about a couple visiting their four divorced parents, is much more entertaining than the film itself.

Witherspoon, true to her character in Election, is a "one-shot perfectionist," while Vaughn, true to every non-psychotic character he's ever played, is "an ad-libber who wants to play around." I smell a sitcom!

The feuding hasn't gotten to the point where they would need to halt production, but apparently Vaughn "sometimes has this look on his face that he just wants to kill her!" This description by an unnamed source, clearly the beacon of all reliable journalism, is bound to produce a Psycho-referencing headline in some gossip rag. As for the Daily News itself, the headline merely references Witherspoon's Type A production company, but they still did a bang up job photoshopping two rather apt pictures together:

Way to stay professional, Daily News.

A.V. Club Picks The Worst Band Names of 2007

2007-12-14T14:18:00.002-06:00

In one of my favorite annual features at this time of year: The A.V. Club asks the important question: Which makes better music, The Rape Ape or Yo Moma's Big Fat Booty Band? That's right, boys and girls, it's time for the The Worst Band Names of 2007, and here are my personal faves:
Da Bears (from San Diego)
The Absestos Tampons
Unicorn Dream Attack
Comanche Abortion
Dance Me Pregnant
Harmonica Lewinsky (a Scottish blues band)
Clusterfunk ("Purveyors of Soulful Groove")
Punk as a Doornail
General Patton & His Privates
Candygram for Mongo "Bio: 'If Cheap Trick were moderating a debate between Social Distortion and the Dropkick Murphys over which was better: internet vs. home video pornography - it would sound like Candygram For Mongo!'"
Fucking Orange
Gray Lines of Perfection (under the "Emoooooo" category)
Best Fwends ("Although they describe their sound as 'slightly better than terrible,' they nevertheless won Vice Magazine's "worst album of the month." Then all their gear was stolen. And now they're on this list. They can't catch a break!")
Coach Said Not To

The best part is the show lineups that produced a combination of the aforementioned bands. Here's the best:
Pink Reason + Psychedelic Horseshit, Expensive Shit: Beerland, 10pm

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